Category Archives: Personal

Start shameless plug: In the last couple weeks, I have been cleaning up Steaming Apparel, my website for steampunk costuming ideas. Much of it targets beginners looking for places to start, although there is some more complicated material as well. The costuming instructions I’ve been posting here will eventually be re-posted at Steaming Apparel. With my position as a university lecturer eliminated, I have turned to freelance web design at AlterEgo. I’d love it if you’d check me out. I

As my university job ends, and I continue to juggle medical issues, I have been scrambling to understanding insurance options. My husband, Jerry, has decent insurance available for himself, but it gets cost prohibitive if he adds a spouse. So part of the answer is we’re going to have separate policies. My options are: Husband’s insurance, which is crap for me COBRA from the university, which will be incredibly expensive even factoring in the fact that I have met my

Anytime someone complains that they can’t find a certain book, the first thing I ask is “Have you checked Amazon?” If they complain that a certain book is too expensive, I ask “Have you checked Amazon for used copies?” Now, there are, indeed, times when Amazon does not actually have the book you’re looking for, but you’re probably going for old and/or obscure. However, I’m beginning to think Amazon may list every book in existence with a U.S. registered copyright,

The Kennedy family never fails to produce bizarre events. In the spotlight today is Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert Kennedy, who is on trial for driving – and crashing – her car under the influence of Ambien. News articles have been focusing today on her rather out-of-place injections of family history into her testimony: who her father was, the fact he had been “the attorney general during the civil rights movement” and “killed while running for president,” (source) that she

I’ve been offline the last couple weeks recovering from surgery, during which time I’ve come to some interesting conclusions about my fibromyalgia. Background I first showed symptoms when I was about 12, when the pain was literally crippling. While I got back on my feet, I spent years moving as little as possible. No sports, no days at the mall, no gym class, and arranging activities to streamline the amount of physical effort needed. The correct diagnosis didn’t come until